IANA tz database · zone identifier

Europe/London

The IANA tz database identifier for Greenwich Mean Time in United Kingdom. Store this string — not the abbreviation, not the offset — and your timestamps stay correct forever.

UTC+01:00Abbreviation BSTObserves daylight saving
Time in Europe/London☾ Night
23:58:18
Wednesday, July 15, 2026
Offset
UTC+01:00
Abbreviation
BST
DST
Active

Current offset

UTC+01:00

standard UTC+00:00 · daylight UTC+01:00

Abbreviation

BST

the daylight-saving form

DST behaviour

Observes

changes clocks twice a year

Country

🇬🇧 United Kingdom

ISO 3166: GB · view country page →

Using this identifier

The string to put in your code.

Europe/London is the identifier to use in code and config for this region. Every modern language, database, and OS resolves it through the same tz database, so the examples here behave identically everywhere.

Avoid storing BST or +01:00 — abbreviations are ambiguous and fixed offsets can't follow rule changes.

// format a date in this zone
new Intl.DateTimeFormat('en-US', {
timeZone: 'Europe/London',
dateStyle: 'full', timeStyle: 'long'
}).format(new Date());

Offset & DST behaviour

Two offsets,
every year.

Europe/London alternates between GMT (UTC+00:00) and BST (UTC+01:00). Right now it is on BST; clocks fall back on 25 October 2026.

The year at a glance

GMT · UTC+00:00BST · UTC+01:00GMT · UTC+00:0029 Mar · +1h25 Oct · −1h Jan 2026 Dec

Technical record

The database entry, in full.

source: IANA tz database

IdentifierEurope/London
ISO country codeGB🇬🇧 United Kingdom
Reference coordinates51.51°N, 0.13°Wtz database reference point
Standard offsetUTC+00:00abbreviation GMT
Daylight offsetUTC+01:00abbreviation BST

Where it applies

All of United Kingdom, one clock.

Looking for travel-friendly info? See London or Greenwich Mean Time.

🇬🇧
United Kingdom

67M people, one time zone. The whole country resolves to Europe/London.

Country page →
🇬🇧 London
23:58
23:58:18 · BST
pop. 8.8MGMT
🇬🇧 Birmingham
23:58
23:58:18 · BST
pop. 1.1MGMT
🇬🇧 Glasgow
23:58
23:58:18 · BST
pop. 626KGMT

Related identifiers

Nearby in the database.

Same zone group · Greenwich Mean Time

other identifiers keeping GMT

Same offset · UTC+01:00

other zones keeping this offset right now

Frequently asked questions

Answers specific to this identifier — generated from the database record. Can't find what you need? Email [email protected].

What UTC offset is Europe/London?
Europe/London is currently UTC+01:00 (BST). It alternates between UTC+00:00 in winter and UTC+01:00 in summer.
Does Europe/London observe daylight saving time?
Yes. Clocks fall back at the next transition on 25 October 2026, as they do twice every year.
Which country uses Europe/London?
United Kingdom. The identifier covers the whole country.
Is Europe/London the same as GMT?
Europe/London is one of the IANA zones that keeps Greenwich Mean Time (GMT). Use Europe/London in software — GMT is a human-friendly label, not a valid identifier.

Free · Developer API

This zone, as JSON.

Everything on this page — offset, abbreviation, DST rules, coordinates — from one endpoint, always current with the latest tzdb release.

GET /v1/timezones Live

countries, cities, convert, DST transitions coming next.

Get your free API key →
// this identifier, resolved live
GET /v1/timezones?iana=Europe/London
{
"iana": "Europe/London",
"utc_offset": "+01:00",
"abbreviation": "BST",
"observes_dst": true,
"country": "GB"
}